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FBI investigators on Friday uncovered more classified material following a search of President Joe Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, home, the president’s personal attorney said in a statement.
During a nearly 12-hour search on Friday, “the Department of Justice has material it believes to be within the scope of its investigation, including six counts of classified-marked documents and surrounding material,” said Bob Ball. items, some of which came from the President’s service in the Senate, and some of which came during his tenure as Vice President. The Justice Department also conducted further review of autographed notes from the Vice President’s tenure.”
The six items are in addition to material previously found at Biden’s Wilmington residence and his private office.
The federal search of Biden’s home, while voluntary, marks an escalation in Special Counsel Robert Hull’s investigation into the president’s handling of classified documents and will inevitably lead to clashes with his predecessor, former President Donald Trump. Compare — even though the FBI raid on Trump’s residence was conducted under different circumstances.
Five months ago, the FBI obtained a warrant to search Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, an unprecedented step because federal investigators had evidence Trump had not turned him over after receiving a subpoena. All classified material in possession. Confidential documents about the National Archives. Trump’s handling of classified material at Mar-a-Lago is also the subject of a special counsel investigation led by Jack Smith.
The searches indicated that federal investigators were moving quickly to investigate classified documents in Biden’s possession. Hull, who was appointed more than a week ago, is investigating how the president and his team handled classified Obama-era documents recently discovered on Biden’s private estate.
The FBI search was conducted with the consent of the president’s lawyers, the people said. The FBI had also previously sought documents found at the residence, which the Biden team disclosed last week.
A warrant or subpoena was not required for the search, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Representatives from Biden’s personal legal team and the Office of the White House Counsel were present during a “thorough search” during which they had “full access” to the Biden residence, Ball said.
Ball added that the Justice Department “requested that the search not be made public in advance in accordance with its standard procedures, and we agreed to cooperate.”
The first documents were discovered in Biden’s private office on Nov. 2, but were not publicly disclosed until earlier this month, when CBS first reported their existence.
Since then, another search in December found a “small number” of classified-marked records in the garage of Biden’s Wilmington home, and a third discovery was made at the Wilmington home in January when Biden’s legal team Documents were searched in the rest of the property. They found them in a room next to the garage.
In a Jan. 11 statement, Ball said that once Biden’s personal attorneys located the classified documents, they would leave them in place and suspend searches of the space where they reside.
“We found that some documents were filed in the wrong place,” Biden explained Thursday as he inspected the storm’s damage in California.
“I think you’ll find there’s nothing there. I don’t regret it,” Biden continued Thursday.
Whether it’s Biden or First Lady Dr. Jill Biden was present during the search, Special Counsel to the President Richard Sauber said in a statement.
Sauber wrote that Biden “has been committed to handling this responsibly because he takes it seriously,” and that he and his team are “working swiftly to ensure that the Justice Department and special counsel have the power to conduct a thorough investigation.” Everything you need to review.”
Investigators had full access to Biden’s home during the search, which included “personal handwritten notes, files, files, binders, memorabilia, to-do lists, calendars and reminders from decades ago,” Ball said.
Biden will spend the weekend at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Asked by The Associated Press on Friday if the visit had anything to do with documents found at Biden’s Wilmington home, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre referred reporters to White House Legal Counsel’s office and Justice Department, but said Biden “travels a lot” to Delaware on weekends. ”
This story has been updated with additional reporting.